Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Tonight marked the last regular season game for my first season ever playing ultimate frisbee. I would recommend this sport to any runner looking to spice up his or her speedwork.

The version we played here in Orangeville, through Active Diversions, is played on a grass field which I estimate at the size of an olympic size hockey surface (since I play Wednesday nights on an olympic size rink, I think my estimate is pretty accurate). There are 6 players per side and we played that there must be at least 2 women per side on the field at all times. The game is pretty simple - each team lines up on their respective goal lines and one team throws the frisbee down field for the other team to pick up.

You work your way down the field, passing from player to player. Once you've received a pass, you are frozen on the field until you've passed off the frisbee. If the frisbee hits the ground or is knocked down or caught by the other team, it is turned over and the other team has a chance to score. If the frisbee is caught in the endzone, it is worth one point and the whole lining up on the goal line thing happens all over again.

The game consists of a 15 minute warmup and 45 minutes of straight playtime. The game is absolutely non-contact, making it a great workout without risk of serious injury. Basically, it is a 45 minute interval workout. I have markedly noticed an improvement in my speed and endurance since starting 2 months ago.

Challenge Updates:

I am at kilometre 43 of 615 on the virtual journey to the start line in Montreal. According to RunningAHEAD.com, that puts me right at hwy. 9 and hwy. 400. I put in a junk 6.2 tonight after hockey to help the cause. Go to original post.

On day 3 of my lose 10 lbs in 1 month challenge, I weighed in at 181 - just 6 lbs to go... My main focus has been on not eating after dinner and pumping up my workouts by adding weight and new exercises. Go to original post.